TheDC Morning: President Obama, Winner-in-Chief

1.) President Obama: Winner-in-Chief—President Obama scored a narrow popular vote victory and, most crucially, a decisive electoral college victory Tuesday night. He’ll be around another four more years. Mitt Romney gave a gracious speech conceding the race. TheDC’s Caroline May reports:

“Surrounded by cheering supporters, Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney conceded the election to President Barack Obama Tuesday night. ‘I have just called President Obama to congratulate him on his victory. His supporters and his campaign also deserve congratulations. I wish all of them well but particularly the president, the first lady and their daughters.’ ‘I pray the president will be successful in guiding our nation,’ Romney added.”

The president gave a great speech himself. But the lesson of the night is trust the polls. Or at least, the average of the polls. It turns out they tend to be a better judge of what’s going on than one’s gut.

2.) GOP Senate implosion — The GOP once had hopes of taking the Senate this election. They failed in dramatic fashion, reports TheDC’s Alexis Levinson:

“One year ago today, Republicans were on the cusp of taking back the Senate. Of all the seats coming up for grabs in 2012, only a small sliver were held by Republicans, and most were held by retiring or vulnerable Democrats. ‘Virtually all of the vulnerability is on the Democratic side this cycle,’ one Republican Insider told National Journal in the September 2011 insider poll. ‘Of 10 to 12 competitive races, two are GOP seats, and we only need to pick up four.’ But by the wee hours of Wednesday morning, the day after election day, even as Senate races dragged on in Montana, Nevada, and North Dakota, it was clear that Republicans had failed to take back the Senate.”

As of this writing, it looks very possible that the Republicans won’t gain a single seat. Simply stunning.

3.) Shining stars cometh — Both Democrats and Republicans elected members to Congress who will be stars for them, including Ted Cruz for the GOP and Elizabeth Warren for the Democrats. Perhaps the coolest of the bunch is newly elected Republican Rep. Tom Cotton. TheDC’s Jamie Weinstein reports:

“The new congressman from Arkansas’ Fourth Congressional District has a super star biography. From small-town Arkansas, Cotton went to Harvard and then Harvard Law School. The 9/11 terrorist attacks propelled him to join the Army. When a recruiter suggested he would be perfect for the Judge Advocate Generals Corps, Cotton reportedly cut him off, ‘I don’t think you understand. I’m here to volunteer for the infantry.’ Cotton served tours on the frontlines in Iraq and Afghanistan. He became somewhat of an Internet sensation for a letter to the editor he wrote to the New York Times while in Iraq in 2006 that eviscerated the Grey Lady for revealing a secret U.S. government program to target al-Qaida’s finances.”

“The GOP shouldn’t abandon its core principles, but it’s time for some reinvention. An obvious place to start is with demographics. For example, as I have long advocated, Republicans simply must find a way to appeal to Hispanics. The good news is that the GOP has a strong bench for 2016. But winning will require more than just a good candidate. It will also take some fresh ideas.”

Here’s an idea: comprehensive immigration reform similar to what was proposed by George W. Bush. It’s the right thing to do, as well as politically smart. The GOP should lead on it.

“The earliest days of the Obama White House were, as could be expected, awash with optimism. Fresh-faced interns and junior staff members who had left Hill offices with their idealism still at least somewhat intact roamed the hallways and sent photos home to their parents, posing like JFK with hands in their pockets, or sitting like FDR with a Bic pen jutting jauntily from their lips instead of a cigarette holder. Otherwise they did their best impressions of stern old pros, trying not to smile, world-weary in a chipper way. And I remember the senior staff, too, before the exhaustion set in. There was Rahm Emanuel, whom we younger guys all admired for his legendary toughness and mischievousness and the air of intelligence he wore as easily as his perfectly tailored suits. He seemed to combine all the best attributes of the Clinton vets and Obama’s Chicago reformers, and when I could work up the courage to look him in the eye and see that glimmer, that sharpness and confidence, it was not impossible to think that, in this White House, the country would be healed.”

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